Back in 2012, BurningRiverBaseball came out with a top ten list for every position in Indians history. These, however, are not a static look in time, but are annually updated to reflect any changes made because of active players (or changes in evaluation). Any changes made to these lists will be described here along with a link to view the current ten best.
Catcher
Probably the least exciting change, Carlos Santana has finally played more games at first base than catcher and had to be removed from the list. He had moved all the way up to 5th ever after last season, so each player from six through 15 move up one spot. Conveniently, Yan Gomes has now played enough games to be considered and takes over that 15th spot behind Kelly Shoppach. It was only his extremely poor play this season that keeps him that low.
First Base
Santana was only pulled from one list to be entered into another. Adding his fifth straight season of 90+ walks, 60+ runs and 70+ RBI, he has moved past Luke Easter into fifth place on the all-time list. Removed entirely to make room was Lew Fonseca, who had been #15.
Second Base
After a tremendous comeback season following an injury marred 2014, Jason Kipnis has jumped from ninth best Indians second baseman ahead of Bill Wambsganss and Johnny Hodapp as the seventh best. Next up for Kipnis is the Hall of Fame, World Series winning second sacker Joe Gordon.
Third Base
I know it’s called a top ten, but we actually track the top 15 on the bottom of the page in the borderline line. He joins as #14 on the list surpassing Russell Branyan and showing the overall weakness at the third base position in team history. Removed was Ray Boone, who should have been listed as a short stop as that was his primary position.
Since the reasoning for the 11-15 players is not included in the top ten and considering how controversial this choice may be, I’ll include it here. To start with, only 14 third basemen have played more total games than Chisenhall and, while that isn’t impressive on it’s own, it does limit the competition. Of third basemen, he ranks 11th in home runs and 14th in RBI. Even his faults, like his .258 career average, look good compared to some of the top Indians third basemen like Max Alvis, Graig Nettles, Bubba Phillips, Branyan and Aaron Boone. This is a case of consistent low level offensive production surpassing other low level producers who didn’t play quite as long.
Currently ahead of Chisenhall at #13 is Matt Williams, who played just 151 games, but did so at a higher level. For those wondering about Chisenhall’s new job as a right fielder, since this is a historical context, a player is considered to be whatever position he has played the most. Like with Santana, he will be considered a right fielder when, or if, he plays about 300 more games in the out field.
Left Field
With a second near MVP quality season, Michael Brantley has moved from his previous position of ninth best Indians left fielder to seventh. He surpassed the long tenured, but never a super star Jack Graney as well as Leon Wagner. The next on the list at #6 is the father of current Indians manager Terry Francona, Tito Francona.
LHRP
While he is no longer with the team, Marc Rzepczynski did his job well when he was around. For this, he has joined the top 15 Indians left handed relief pitchers for the first time at #13, surpassing John O’Donoghue, Jamie Easterly and removing Mike Paul from the group. All three players he passed were less than effective over their careers and O’Donoghue and Paul were used partly as starters, taking away from their legitimacy as a LOOGY.
RHRP
It would seem that Francona was in a hurry to get Bryan Shaw added to this list by the way he has over used his primary set-up man, but either way, he will be added for the first time after the 2015 season. He joins the list at #12, surpassing Art Houtteman, Don McMahon, Steve Karsay and Cal McLish, knocking Houtteman out of the top 15. Ed Klieman remains above him at #11. Of those surpassed, McMahon, Houttman and McLish saw some success as starting pitchers before or after their relief careers.
Closer
This was the breakout season for Cody Allen as he proved that 2014 was not a fluke. Last season was enough to vault Allen to 10th all time and this was enough to move him to fifth. Because this is a fluid list, he could have a poor year and move him back down, but for now, he has the best K/9 as a closer in Indians history, second best ERA and is sixth in total saves. Already only three closers on the list have played in more games than Allen and it probably wouldn’t take too much for him to surpass those.
Moving from 10th to 5th, Allen surpassed Jim Kern, Steve Olin, Ray Narleski, Doug Jones and Jose Mesa. Dave LaRoche, who saved 42 of 49 with a 2.51 ERA is next on the list.
Aces
For our top ten lists, aces have been separated from other starting pitchers for the sake of crediting a few more starters. As with last season, Corey Kluber has been compared to the greatest Indians pitchers and still found wanting, although it was closer than ever before. While his K/9, ERA and WHIP compare favorably to those at the top, he simply doesn’t have the innings to surpass Greg Swindell at #15 yet. With one more good year of around 200 innings, by next season he could break into the top 15.
Top Defenders
In the Winter of 2013-2014, we took a look at the Indians greatest defenders by position and while it isn’t quite a top 10 list, it still belongs here. Using an arbitrary minimum of at least 400 games played at the position, all available defensive statistics were compared to find the #1 player for each spot. For the first time in his career, Michael Brantley qualifies as a left fielder and with the best fielding percent in Indians history among left fielders and the third most assists per game, he can be fairly named the best defensive left fielder in Indians history.
While some modern metrics may not favor him against his contemporaries, those statistics don’t exist for most of the players compared. With just four errors in six seasons in left field, his .995 fielding percent blows away all other options as he surpasses Dale Mitchell as the Indians number one defender in left.
Managers
Like with defense, you cannot fairly compare the in game strategy of different managers over the years, so we resort to using wins, losses, play-off appearances and achievement compared to the quality of the team as evaluators for the Indians best managers. He won his 250th game as the Indians manager this year in just his third year, placing him in comparison with the best. In the top 15, he surpasses two other three year managers, Joe Gordon and Steve O’Neill (all three also were once players for the Indians) and falls in behind Ossie Vitt, who won 262 games compared to 198 losses from 1938-1940.
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